1Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are—we are your bone and your flesh.”
2In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel out and brought them in. And Yahweh said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel, and you shall be ruler over Israel.’
3So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh, and they anointed David as king over Israel.
4David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
6The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land. They said to David, “You will not come in here; even the blind and the lame can turn you away”—meaning, “David cannot come in here.”
7But David captured the stronghold of Zion; that is, the City of David.
8On that day David said, “Anyone who strikes the Jebusites, let him reach the water shaft—and the lame and the blind, hated by David’s soul.” Therefore they say, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”
9So David dwelt in the stronghold and called it the City of David. And David built all around, from the Millo inward.
10And David grew greater and greater, for Yahweh, the God of Hosts, was with him.
11Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar timber and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a house for David.
12And David knew that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13David took still more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David.
14These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon,
15Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.
18The Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
19Then David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And Yahweh said to David, “Go up, for I will surely give the Philistines into your hand.”
20So David came to Baal-perazim, and there David struck them down. And he said, “Yahweh has burst through my enemies before me like a bursting of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.
21They abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
22The Philistines came up once again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
23When David inquired of Yahweh, he said, “You shall not go up. Circle around behind them and come at them opposite the balsam trees.
24And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then act decisively, for then Yahweh will have gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”
25And David did so, just as Yahweh commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.
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